Before I Give You My Heart
by HecateA
Summary: Being sick of satyrs and falling in love at the same time is exhausting, as Juniper finds out. Oneshot. Written for the Percy Jackson Ship Weeks.


**Alright, so yes it _is _past midnight and currently July 20, but since I started writing this at 11:25 on the 19th and didn't stop, this story was totally posted on time for its proper Ship Week. Plus I'm really proud of this story whereas I'm usually unsatisfied and uneasy about my Grover+Juniper stories, but ta-dah! I may even have one planned out for next year... at any rate: Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Grover and Juniper, and the voracious description of satyr behaviour below is typical in Greek myth.**

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**Before I Give You My Heart**

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"And, and?" Cherry asked as soon as Juniper was alone again. She was a Black Cheery tree naiad, with dark eyes and red lips. She was one of the most beautiful nymphs at Camp, and it was rare that a day passed without satyrs stumbling over themselves to get to her. Thankfully she was also hidden pretty deeply in the woods, because there was no way that the half-bloods would keep their hands off the fruits that her tree bore.

"And what?" Juniper asked.

"And how was your _date?" _Cherry asked emphasising her last word.

"It was good." Juniper said calmly, passing her hand through her hair. Her fingers brushed against a flower. She'd put flowers in her hair tonight. That would give any blase impressions away.

"Good? _Good?" _Cherry spat out. "June, that's what you said _last _time!"

"Well," Juniper said stretching out her vowel, "maybe last time was good too." She was picking the flowers out of her amber hair and laying them down on the ground. Roots shot out of the mossy ground and attached themselves to the bulbs.

"And the date before that? And the one before? Juniper. You don't go on seven dates with someone because they're _good. _That boy's gotta have something special."

"Grover's nice," Juniper conceded.

"Juniper." Cherry said again. "You don't date a boy just because they're…"

"Nice. Okay, I get it," Juniper said snappily. "Will you leave me alone? It's late and I'm tired."

"I think I'll walk you back to your tree."

"Cherry-"

"The half-bloods just kicked up some weird demented squirrel-dracanae mixes that were hibernating in here. Best not to go walking around alone until they get it under control."

Juniper rolled her eyes. She didn't _mind _the half-bloods like some other nature spirits did, but every now and then they _did _prove to be annoying. At least they were better than full-on humans.

At any rate, Cherry wasn't walking Juniper home by the goodness of her heart or some kind of concern. And Juniper knew it.

"So while we're here, we may as well chit-chat," Cherry said. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Juniper said. "Though you'd know since we spent the entire day weaving baskets for Willow's wedding."

Willow was an old spirit, from a completely other age in the forest's growth. She was far from the half-bloods and could barely recognise them. Not to make her sound shallow or anything. Willow was one of the most innovative nature spirits around. Nothing healed like her fertiliser.

"That's so true," Cherry said. "Now what about your evening?"

"Cherry I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh no, did you break up?"

"We'd have had to be a couple to break up," Juniper remarked.

"Yes, I've always wondered why you weren't."

Juniper tried to shoot her a look but Cherry was immune. She'd known Juniper too long to be scared.

"I just…" Juniper chewed her lip.

"Are you afraid?"

"No."

"Well for Pan's sake Juniper, if you aren't interested don't lead the poor boy on."

"I'm not leading him on!" Juniper said.

"Really? Because he's head over heels for you and –not that I'm an expert here, but I kind of am- I think that he may be looking for someone with reciprocal feelings. And in general when people date for a very long extended period of time; that indicates aforementioned feelings."

"Well how am I supposed to know?" Juniper snapped.

"Common sense?" Cherry suggested.

"Well it's not common in these woods!" Juniper said. She signed and slumped down on a rock. Cherry arched an eyebrow. Juniper should explain herself. "You remember a few rings back?"

"Yes."

"When we were, oh, I don't know, twelve?"

"Sure," Juniper said.

"And Glen Wolfe followed me for a while?"

"Yes," Cherry said. "And I wouldn't let you leave Zeus' Fist alone."

"Right," Juniper sighed. "And then after the seventh month I went to the Council of Cloven Elders to report him. And they told me that it was just because he liked me."

"I remember."

"And he was only granted a searcher's license and sped out of camp because I went to Chiron after he just about cornered me…" Juniper said.

"Right," Cherry said.

"Or last winter, when North Windsong called me a _pornai _because I told him to get his filthy hooves off of me?"

"I do," Cherry said.

"Once Ridge Clay threatened to cut down my tree if I didn't go to the fireworks with him- and the only reason he didn't do it was because I got Bay Oliver –you know that one with the big horns- on my side."

"Ridge Clay is a bag of- whatever. He's gone now."

"Right, but that didn't mean that Dale Emberson never told Clover that she couldn't talk to Flint because he was jealous, even though they've been best friends forever. Or when Woody West picked at Holly's leaves until she'd transform again and kiss him? And every spring how the satyrs are always running after us? And they chasse us back to our trees until we disappear? And some of them won't leave your tree until you come out and it's like they're _guarding _you?"

"Yes, it happens to all of us," Cherry said.

"And you get it even worse than I do," Juniper said waving her hands at her friends. "You're beautiful. You have satyrs serenading you in the middle of the night when we're all trying to sleep and calling you pet names without knowing your name and taking your hands during council meetings and it never, ever stops."

"Satyrs are pigs not goats, that's not news," Cherry said. "What's your point?"

"That maybe I don't want to give my heart to one just in case," Juniper said, distraught.

Cherry gave her a look.

"Sweetie?" Cherry asked.

Juniper looked up, scared by all the words that had suddenly cascaded out of her. Since she'd been a little girl she'd been courted by satyrs, and now it was odd to go looking for the attention. To accept it. To _want _it, on some never before seen level.

"What did you and Grover do tonight as a date?"

"We walked around the lake. He showed me a spot –a kind of cliff- on which you could see all of camp, and a bit beyond. Because he thought that it was sad that I'd never get to see the outside world."

"Uh huh. And the date before that?"

"He got one of his friends in the Demeter cabin to sneak us in so that I could see the baby dryads in their saplings."

"Why?"

"Because I told him how I liked baby plants so much, and my little sister had never made it past sapling."

"And what did you say after that date?"

"That those saplings were the cutest things I'd ever seen."

"Uh huh. And what else?"

"That Grover was so sweet with them."

"Uh huh. And what else?"

Juniper's throat made a distinct knot in her throat. "That Grover was sweet with me too."

Cherry nodded. "And I've never heard you say bad things about him. I know that satyrs are jerks to us so often, always chasing us and trying to charm us, that we stop swapping horror stories after a while… but I'm pretty sure that if Grover would _ever _have made a wrong move on you, I would have known. Right?"

Juniper didn't answer at first, but eventually she nodded. Yes. Yes, Cherry would have known because Cherry would _understand. _Cherry was one of the few dryads who fabricated and carried weapons specifically since the Serenading Satyr incident of 07. Because Cherry was beautiful and the satyrs wanted her just like they'd bothered Juniper until she'd started seeing Grover (and, ergo, was already 'claimed' by one of their own). Because Cherry knew Juniper better than she sometimes knew herself.

"So I'm going to have to conclude that Grover is an absolute sweetheart because, I'm not going to lie, that's the vibe that I get from him. And it's the vibe that we all do. For Pan's sake, the boy visited his mother until her last branch had rotted and he still visits the other old trees in the forest- even though they pinch his cheeks and call him Gordon. And if you need a refresher of his other qualities he's rather brave –the first satyr to come back from the search for Pan and the first one to defy the Council-, he's sympathetic, he gets along well with just about everyone, you two have the same horrible taste in pan flute music and your senses of humour are equally deranged," Cherry said. "Or at least that's what I hear from you."

Juniper swallowed.

"I know it looks cowardly. To get cold feet now… But Grover's been so nice and so perfect I just… I don't want it to crack."

"Can't you trust that he won't?" Cherry asked. She raised her hands and sighed. "Juniper, I'm not in charge of your life or the choices you make. But I am in charge of being best friend and making sure you don't screw yourself over. Will you really let go of someone like him for what someone else has done?"

Cherry shrugged. "Food for thought. We're at Zeus' Fist now. Sweet dreams, love."

She walked away and stopped right before she disappeared in the forest. "You know. I had the chasing and courting just as bad as you did and… I wouldn't."

Then she melted right in with the trees.

Juniper was left alone with her thoughts and the wind blowing through the leaves of her sisters.

* * *

They were sitting on a rock, at the spot where Zephyr's creek poured into the beach. Grover was tapping his pan flutes against his thigh nervously. He'd had another just-about shouting match with the council about his run-in with the spirit of Pan last winter, when he was accompanying the latest quest. Juniper wasn't sure what the story on that little adventure was, but she had heard the story of the quest over and over again. Grover always came to her to repeat it. He used it like a charm. Saying it over and over again made it more real to him.

"Grover, the council's their own problem," she attempted to comfort him. "I believe you."

"Seriously?" he asked looking up from his knees.

"Sure. Lots of nymphs do. We just can't say it because the council would have our roots right now, but if it comes down to it I'd take your word over theirs."

"You believe me?" Grover asked again, his ears wiggling a bit. It was a tiny habit that satyrs and goats had in common. Grover barely did it anymore, because of all his postings as protector, but when he was at ease... well, this cute little gem of a habit resurfaced.

"Yes I do."

"Even if… even if the story makes no sense?"

"Even if," Juniper nodded.

"That… that helps, Juniper. Thank you. It's very… moralising. To know that you believe me."

"No problem."

"Can I just ask a stupid question then?"

"Okay."

"If you have so much faith in me, does that mean that we're going anywhere with this?"

A chill went up Juniper's back, like in autumn whenever her tree lost its leaves on the rare occasion that that grubby old god didn't interfere with the way of things and nature and seasons.

"What do you mean going anywhere?" Juniper asked.

"We don't have to," Grover said quickly. "I'm content to sit on this rock and talk with you forever. But... out of curiosity and such..."

Juniper swallowed.

"Here's the deal, Grover," Juniper said. "I like you. A lot. More than a lot, if I'm honest with myself- which I should be more often, so this is a nice start... " She was rambling. "And I'd sit on this rock forever, or I'd travel the world with you. I'd uproot my tree and see this world you get so excited and anxious and concerned about. But here's the deal. Before I give you my heart, which I'm planning on..."

Grover looked like he'd pass out.

"It's not complicated," Juniper said. "Not if you're really who I'm looking for in this world."

"I'll do my best."

"You're already doing it," Juniper said. "I just... I need things from you, Grover. I need you to listen to me when I say yes or no, and I'll promise to listen to you. I need you to hear me out when I talk, and hear me out as if my opinion has value and I'm equal to you. I need you to think that you're lucky to have me every day, and I need you to think that I'm enough for you. And, above all, I need you to be honest with me about how you're doing and we're doing to make sure I know that all of these things are going well."

Grover nodded at each element and took a deep breath when Juniper was done.

"I can do that," he said. "I might be rusty at first, but I can do that for a heart like that."

Juniper leaned forwards and kissed him.

"It's yours," she said softly.

* * *

**Upcoming Ship Weeks**

**July**

**20 - 26 **- Charlie and Silena

**27 - 02 **- Thalia and Luke

**August**

**03 -09 **- Free Week (author's pick)

**10 - 16 **- Free slash week (author's pick of a same-sex story)

**17 - 23 **- Free friendship week

**24 - 30 **- Chris and Clarisse

**31 - 06 **- Jason and Reyna

**September**

**07- 13 **- Jason and Piper

**14 -20 **- Frank and Hazel

**21 - 27 **- Calypso and Leo

**28 - October 4 **- Percy and Annabeth


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